Great Delight

This past weekend I had the privilege of participating in the wedding of a good friend of mine.  Standing there as her maid of honor as she pledged her life to another was a  precious moment I will never forget, and an honor I will always treasure.

As a young lady, it’s always exciting when a friend of mine gets married, and there’s lots and lots of planning and excitment that goes into it.  Even as little girls, we chatter on as we plan our weddings, and though those plans have a thousand changes along the way as we grow up, the anticipation and future joy remains the same.

But recently I’ve started paying attention to the guys who are getting married.  And there’s one thing I’ve noticed – it’s not just the girls who are excited.  It’s the guys too!   They might not be planning it at five years old, but they’re definitely enthusiastic when they’re twenty!

And that whole observation thing has taught me this – it’s the same way with Christ and His bride, the church.  We ought to be excited about the future return of Christ, and our coming union with Him in Heaven.  At the same time, Christ is excited to be united with us, and is looking forward to coming to get us.  But when I look around at Christians today, including myself, I notice a sad lack of excitment, and an even sadder lack of the recognition that Christ is excited about us.

More often it goes something like this – “God was merciful to save me and I owe my service to Him in return.”  “My church needs more help, but I’m already overwhelmed with projects A, B, C, and D, but I know I’m supposed to serve because Jesus gave all for me, so ok, I’ll take on another project.”  Or, “I know I’m an unworthy sinner who keeps messing up, and there’s nothing good in me, and the purpose of my life is to try and repay Christ for His sacrifice.”

But where’s the joy?!  Where’s the excitement?!  True, Christ was merciful.  True, Christ did give all and so should we.  True, we should be faithful servants busy about the work of the Lord.  But that’s only one side of it!  Once you’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb, you’re a child of God, part of the bride of Christ, and an ambassador of the Most High.  You’re washed!  You’re clean!  You’re HIS!

Paul, after finishing writing a long list of sins, said this, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:11)  In Colossians 1 we read, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”  So, it could be said that a child of God is these three things – holy, blameless, and unreprovable.  Not because of ourselves, but because of the washing of the Lamb.

And, it’s not just us that should look forward to the future union with Christ.  At the same time, Christ is equally, or more, excited about His union with us.  We all too often forget that side of things entirely, but that’s exactly what God Himself said in Zephaniah 3 – “The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” 

That verse leaves a lot to the imagination, but I think that’s exactly what God intended.  How does He quiet us with His love?  How is His delight demonstrated?  What does His singing sound like?

So, as you’re busy here and there in life, take a moment and stop to think.  God takes great delight in you.  He’s excited about you!  The joy is His as well as ours.  Don’t let life overwhelm you, or Satan distract you from the two-sided joy that is yours.  And, when you’re meditating on that, try to imaging the sound of His singing.  That singing that is a song of rejoicing over you.  And that singing that you’ll one day hear when you and He are united forever more.  And let that singing put a song in your own heart as well.

For Whom Shall We Mourn?

Below is a link to an article I recently came across by Doug Phillips of Vision Forum regarding the murder of abortionist George Tiller. I thought it was both well-written and Biblical, and helped define some of my own thoughts in this matter.

For Whom Shall We Mourn?

Colombia Video Diaries

At long last – a Colombia trip report!  Sincere apologies for the delay!

Team leader and Global Encounters director Elizabeth Fox put together this video of our time in Colombia.  So, sit back and enjoy a glimpse into our grand adventure and my favorite international trip yet!

Mother’s Day Quotes

In preparation for Mother’s day, the elementary kids in the Bible Quizzing program at our church were asked to answer the question “Why my mother should be given the ‘mother of the year’ award.” Kids have a knack of putting things in a fun, simple way, and I thought you’d enjoy the answers.

• “Because she is loving and kind and helps me with my school and other things like Bible Quizzing. She helps me behave or I might misbehave.” — Seth, 11 years old
• “Because she helps in school and because she is special to me,
  and I wish she will be here forever. ” — Jedi, 8 years old
• “Because she helped me memorize my Bible Quizzing verses.” — Isaiah, 6 years old
• “Because she is so good and kind to me and helps me with my
  school every day.” — Josephine, 13 years old
• “She helps me with my school.” — Jeremy, 9 years old
• “Because she cooks for us, she buys us clothes, she helps us do school.” — Jared, 10 years old
• “Because she cooks all of the meals and helps me with school. She also makes me happy when I’m sad. I love her very much. That’s why she should be given the award.” — Jackson, 12 years old
• “She cooks meals, encourages me, wakes me in the morning, buys nice clothes for me, drives me to places, pizza on Friday night. Know’s what is best for me… Helps with school. Is cheerful and funny and not grumpy!” — Abigail, 11 years old
• “Because she makes pizza on Friday nights.” — Josiah, 8 years old [editors note - like they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! ]

Travelin’ On…

Wow, what better way to spend your 23rd birthday than sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon!  I’m here in Arizona for a long weekend visiting my sister.  We haven’t seen each other since January… quite the eternity!  We actually didn’t try to end up at the Canyon on my birthday, it just “happened” to work out that this weekend was free for a visit, and some friends of my uncle offered us use of a cabin near Flagstaff.  So, the three of us went up there for two nights, and Elizabeth and I spent Saturday walking 15 miles around the rim of the Grand Canyon.  I love how God works out “coincidences”!

The immensity of the Canyon was overwhelming! It seemed even bigger than when we visited it as a family about 15 years ago.

Talk about an awesome sister-trip!

Here’s Elizabeth enjoying a much-needed break from school and work.

Think of how even greater God must be to have made this Canyon, yet He loves me personally and guides me as a Gentle Shepherd.  Wow!

The Canyon just keeps going…

…and going…

…and going.  Reminds me of the eternality of the love of God.

Every great adventure has an element of danger!  (Don’t worry mom, I wasn’t anywhere close to actually falling!  I just thought the angles made a cool picture. )

Wow, I still can’t believe we were there!  And those sneakers have now walked the rim of the Grand Canyon, climbed Machu Picchu, explored Monserrati, gone underground into the famous Salt Cathedral (Colombia), explored Uruguay, crossed the widest highway in the world (Argentina), traversed Washington D.C., survived an 8.0 earthquake, walked the endless rows of Iowa corn fields, and the cool thing is – I was the one wearing them in all those awesome experiences!  Amazing!

Along the way, we took a detour through Sedona, AZ to see the red rocks.  The very red rocks!

I don’t normally appreciate sign vandalism, but I thought this was cute.  (In case you can’t see, someone used sticker letter blocks to write “Watch for red Rocks”.

Travelin’ on…

During our detour, we took even more of a detour by stopping to dip our feet in a cool, flowing stream.  That’s one of the greatest feelings in the world in my opinion!

Happy 23rd Birthday, Amy!

Street Sweeping

While reading the Harris brothers’ Do Hard Things book this afternoon, I found myself in the chapter entitled “Small Hard Things.” It was my favorite chapter yet.

You see, I think all too often we Christian young people forget that serving Jesus happens in little ways, every day, here and there, one opportunity at a time. Instead, we have great visions for the future – being a world changer by being an influential politician, winning a country for Jesus by being a foreign missionary, raising up the next generation by being a wife and mother to a happy, healthy family of ten – and forget that the time to serve Jesus is NOW. Today. It’s like what one of my friends always reminds me: “wherever you are, be all there.” Don’t wait for the future to start serving Jesus, do something now!

I love what Martin Luther King, Jr. once said in an address:

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music… Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

This is also a Biblical thought. Jesus said in Luke 16:10, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” Later, while writing 1 Corinthians, Paul put it this way: “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.“ (1 Cor. 10:31)

It’s the little things in life that prove a true servant. So, let’s live our lives doing both the big and the small – all for the glory of God.

Rest

This afternoon I was contemplating my busy schedule and wondering why on earth I’ve signed up for so many projects all at the same time. Ever been there? It’s not that anything I’m doing is something I particularly dislike either, in fact, most of it is stuff I love doing. It’s just there’s so much going on. My brain was whirling with plans and preparations, and suddenly I found myself wishing I could just slow down and erase some of this busyness from my to-do list.

Then this verse popped into my head – “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt. 11:29-30)

Here it was – a Bible verse to justify reducing my busyness and amount of ministry!  Not only was I to find joy in serving Jesus, but I was to find rest too.  And that’s not something I have in abundance right now!

But then I realized I was missing a key factor – “rest for your soul.” In other words, there’s an internal peace and rest when you take Jesus’ yoke. Jesus didn’t promise that life would be one easy stroll down a rose-lined path. But rather, the inner turmoil would quiet, and the soul would find peace. As for that physical rest, well, life’s more like a marathon. Each of us is given a specific piece of time in which to accomplish as much for Jesus as possible. And, though some days may seem long, in the grand scope of eternity, our time here to accomplish great things is shorter than the blink of an eye.

So I was reminded to keep running that race of life, and to finish well. The busyness of ministry is a good thing. But in that busyness it is essential that you keep that “one needful thing” – taking time to quiet your soul before Jesus and commune with Him (Lk. 10:42). That’s where your soul finds rest. And when your soul is at rest, that marathon of life somehow doesn’t seem so hard after all.